Residential market powers ahead, commercial wobbles

Across Cyprus, quarterly sale values increased by 1.4% for apartments and 0.5% for houses and decreased by 0.5% for retail, 2% for warehouses and 0.3% for offices, according to the WiRE Property Index for Q4.

As for holiday apartments, sale values increased by 1%, while holiday houses decreased by 0.1%.

On an annual basis, prices increased by 2.2% for apartments and 0.7% for holiday apartments and decreased by 0.5% for houses, 3.4% for retail, 4.5% for warehouses, 2.1% for offices and 3.7% for holiday houses.

Larnaca stands out from the districts, as sale values of apartments continued to rise for the fourth quarter in a row (2.5% in Q4 2021).

Quarterly, rental values increased by 1% for apartments, 1.7% for houses, and decreased by 0.6% for retail, 1.3% for warehouses and 1.4% for offices.

As for holiday apartments and holiday houses, rental values increased by 1.5% and 2.0%, respectively.

On an annual basis, rental values increased by 2.0% for apartments, 0.4% for houses and 0.9% for holiday apartments, and decreased by 5.5% for retail, 3.2% for warehouses, 6.7% for offices and 1.4% for holiday homes.

Larnaca stands out from the districts, as rental values of holiday apartments dramatically increased after a year of stability (6.3% in Q4 2021).

Pavlos Loizou, CEO of WiRE FS, said: “The strong labour market, the availability of credit for mortgages, and pent-up demand over the past couple of years continues to drive the residential market as investors are looking at ways to generate income.

“In contrast, the changing landscape around office use and the structure of Cyprus’ banks (less staff, branches), and the move to online purchases and the appeal of newly opened shopping malls/ destinations in Nicosia and Larnaca, is having a significant impact on the office and retail market.

“We are still away from seeing a return to stability, let alone observe an uptake in the commercial market or a sense of direction in purchase and prices for holiday homes.”

For a breakdown of movements in Sale and Rental values by district, visit https://goaskwire.com/blog/category/wire-index.